Inside the Beltway: Behold, it’s a White House ‘Day in the life’

Brace for it. The White House has readied a new feel-good tactic to appeal to American voters, and it goes public in 24 hours when President Obama fires up Air Force One and journeys to Minnesota for a two-day visit that includes a public event, a private fundraiser and something called a “day in the life.” Mr. Obama plans to commune with private citizens on their own turf, then illustrate how White House policies are helping them. Or something like that.

First up is “Rebekah,” a woman in Minneapolis who recently wrote the president about her economic challenges, describing herself as hailing from “the middle of the country.”

Voila, the “day in the life” was born. Mr. Obama has already made a promotional video about his intent to spend time with everyday folk, noting, “I think it’s going to be wonderful for me to let Rebekah know not only am I listening, but that she’s not alone out there.”

It’s sounds very much like one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “listening tours” of yore — heavy on ceremony and photo-ops. Not so, says the White House.

“It’s going to be part of a series of days-in-the-life we’re going to do, where the president is going to visit a community, spend the whole day there, talk to small business owners, families, workers and get a real sense of what’s happening in America, and have a real discussion with them on how we move this country forward,” explains senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer.

Spend the whole day? Well, no matter.

In the meantime, there’s a fundraiser tucked into Mr. Obama’s visit to the Land O’ Lakes. He’ll headline a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraiser in Minneapolis on Thursday evening, staged at the home of Sam Kaplan, the former U.S. ambassador to Morocco, with tickets priced from $10,000 to $32,400.

Among those attending: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, assorted Minnesota Democrats and Steve Israel, chairman of the aforementioned committee. Mr. Obama will be back in the nation’s capital in time to attend the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks evening parade with first lady Michelle Obama on Friday.

RON PAUL TAKES AIM

“In honor of our Second Amendment freedoms, I’m pleased to announce that Campaign for Liberty is giving away a brand new Colt LE6920MP-B AR-15 equipped with a red dot sight. The AR-15 will come with Magpul stock, pistol grip, handguard, and vertical grip and back-up sight. The giveaway is free to enter.”

— from Ron Paul’s new outreach for Campaign for Liberty, his Virginia-based nonprofit group.

GARY OLDMAN, SCENE TWO

Like other stars who reveal truths not friendly to left-leaning Hollywood, Gary Oldman has prompted a squawking, outraged response from critics and insiders following his personal revelations about Tinseltown hypocrisy and political correctness.

The gifted and spirited Mr. Oldman was run through the media gauntlet, the liberal press in full cry, with hundreds of stories scattered in the wake of the actor’s nine-hour, wide ranging, candid interview with Playboy. Enter, stage right, Douglas Urbanski, Mr. Oldman’s longtime manager, and a conservative talk show host who sits in, on occasion, for the likes of Rush Limbaugh. Here is what he has to say about it all.

“If you read the Playboy piece correctly and entirely, and in context, it is the hypocrisy of political correctness that Gary is addressing, nothing else. It simply cannot be read any other way, and to put it in any other way is simply cherry-picking something, stating it inaccurately and creating news where there is none,” Mr. Urbanski said in a statement.